FORT WORTH, TX and READING, PA, October 9, 2017 – Stevens & Lee/Griffin professionals Mark B. Russell and Edward C. Renenger spoke at the seminar “Passing the Torch: The Pros and Cons of Succession, Sale and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) for Effective Business Continuation” held by the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership at St. Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business in Philadelphia on July 20, 2017.

At the seminar, Messrs. Russell and Renenger reviewed ownership transfer options, discussed capital and merger and acquisition market updates and presented an overview of leveraged and non-leveraged ESOPs.

Mr. Russell works with investment banking clients and their principals providing merger and acquisition advisory services; and private placements of debt and capital. Mr. Russell works extensively with business owners, evaluating their business and personal situations and assisting them in preparing for succession of or exit from their businesses. To accomplish this, he takes business owners through a process designed to help them identify their goals and objectives, then performs an exhaustive analysis of various alternatives (including management buyouts, ESOPs, recapitalizations, and minority or majority sales of the business) to ensure business owners have all of the information necessary to decide the best path to achieve their goals. Finally, he assists business owners in optimizing the strategies designed to achieve the desired outcome.

Mr. Renenger, Co-Chair of the ERISA, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Department at Stevens & Lee, concentrates his practice in helping companies navigate the complexities of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). In this capacity, Mr. Renenger advises business owners on how to sell their companies to employees through an ESOP. This process typically involves working with the company to first determine the feasibility and impact of creating an ESOP, consulting on whether the ESOP accomplishes the goals of the relevant stakeholders, designing the appropriate structure to accomplish those goals, implementing the transaction and then assisting the company with the ongoing administration and compliance of the ESOP.

Mr. Renenger also advises on other ESOP-related transactions, including situations where ESOP-owned companies sell to outside buyers when they have determined that exiting the ESOP structure is appropriate for shareholders. He works with the entire range of ESOP-owned companies, including S Corporations, C Corporations, private companies, publicly traded companies, companies that are wholly owned by the ESOP trust and companies in which the ESOP is a minority owner. Mr. Renenger also counsels ESOP trustees on their fiduciary obligations under ERISA in ESOP-related transactions and when unique situations arise in an already established ESOP.